5 PAGES, ONE BOOK by ULYSSES DUTERTE

5 PAGES, ONE BOOK

By Ulysses Duterte, Jr.

(July 2020)

Size: 1.75" x 1.75"

(Pic-Collage by Ulysses Duterte, Jr.)

Meritage Press' Minitage Editions is delighted to release 5 PAGES, ONE BOOK, a miniature art book by Ulysses Duterte, Jr., a Philippine-born, interdisciplinary visual artist based in San Francisco Bay Area, California. You can see more information about his art at his WEBSITE. Ulysses' book features five pages, each featuring a single, different color and then inscribed with a thin line.

Ulysses describes his line-based art as follows:

"Most of my landscapes and seascapes are reminders of my long drives in Nevada, New Jersey and California. Driving alone on those empty highways gave me time to meditate on my relationship with God. Primarily, those vertical lines always remind me of the need to be God-oriented (pointing North) when it comes to my values. Putting these symbols make me a part of His landscape. I choose to paint straight lines. For me, straight lines represent absolute truth."

When asked to share images of other artworks that utilize his line, Ulysses presented two works:

"Achromatic" (mixed-media on paper), 2019

"Same Difference #2" (acrylic and watercolor on paper) 2019

5 PAGES, ONE BOOK presents five pages with the background colors on each page of red, yellow, black, brown, and white. Ulysses chose the colors based on "colors representing the human race" partly as determined by a University of Florida study on "ethnicity codes" which present the following five categories:

1) American Indian or Alaska Native 2) Asian 3) Black or African American 4) Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander 5) White

Ulysses acknowledges the reductiveness of the five categories and notes, "The truth is not in the 5 colors but in the 'one book'. I can make it 100 colors and then I will still say they belong to 'one book'. That one book is the absolute truth. The problems comes out when we focus on just one page of a book--that's where strife begins."

Minitage Editions is grateful to Ulysses Duterte Jr. for his donation of his book to the Miniature Book Library!